Of the delicious products (new and old) I got to taste at this year’s Kosherfest, Jack’s Gourmet sausages rank among the best. With no fillers, no by-products and no artificial flavors their natural goodness makes them a superb choice for a cold winter eve… or any other occasion.

Jack’s Gourmet, the company is the brainchild of two partners. Chef Jack Silberstein and Dr. Alan Broner.

Chef Jack Silberstein, Dr. Alan Broner

Chef Jack graduated from the Culinary Institute of America (America’s foremost culinary school) in Hyde Park, NY, in 2007. He worked as a private chef aboard a yacht and is a respected consultant with the meat industry. Dr. Broner is a dentist with a popular private practice as well as a professor of dentistry. Dr. Broner has a long time interest in cooking and fine cuisine having attended many courses and cooking demos both in Manhattan (many at the De Gustibus School School of Good Taste) and in Brooklyn. It was, in fact, at one such course given in Brooklyn (by Chef Jack) that the two partners met.

Noting the lack of anything resembling good tasting sausages in the kosher world, they set out to produce them. I can attest they’ve succeeded and deliciously so!!! Not only were they the most popular stop at Kosherfest 2010, but every time I stopped by by I saw most of the celebrity chefs standing in line waiting to get another bite.

They also produce the best tasting, most aromatic, 1st Cut Pastrami and 1st Cut Corned Beef Brisket, I ever had.

Jack's Gourmet mouthwatering selections

I picked up all these selections last Thursday. After tasting the superb pastrami and corned beef I started that evening’s dinner with rolls made with corned beef, pastrami and bratwurst…

truly succulent!

On Shabbos, I used the Cured Bratwurst as one of the three types of meat (pastrami deckel and cheek were the other two) I put in cholent. The taste, the aroma, were incredibly enhanced. It was one of my most successful experiments and probably the best cholent I ever made.

Well, gentle reader, I guess I’ll have to come back and tell you about the rest of the flavors…

Like this:

The four seasons succeed each other in a natural progression throughout the year, each one bringing something new though it is but the progeny of its predecessor. So too it was logical and natural that Mayer Gold would one day own a supermarket. During his yeshiva days he operated the vending machines, in camp he ran the canteen, later became a low level manager at Glatt Mart, Assistant Store Manager at Supersol and Store Manager of Pomegranate.

When Supersol recently closed in Queens, Mayer quickly bought it up and is now in the process of remodeling it, expecting to open up his own supermarket, Seasons, in January 2011. So, who is this maverick supermarket owner? I found him a very down to earth, likable, businessman; a foodie ready to serve a very price conscious demographic. As he put it, “I want to serve both the $9.99 a pound steak customer who will douse it with a $.99 sauce as well as the $18.00 a pound consumer who prefers the exotic spices and rubs.”

What is his vision for Seasons? That became very obvious when he recently run a contest to find a name for the supermarket. The name – Seasons – was chosen from over 4000 entries. Mayer Gold and his team of professional managers believe that the client should have the last word on what is offered when, where and how. As we spoke, last week, he told me that while product cost and type is very important, the voice of his customers will be equally valuable. Again, showing how significant consumer input is, the supermarket’s site seasonsny.com, asks people to choose the company logo.

Photo by: vosizneias.com

Artist's rendition of Seasons storefront

“The gardener’s work is never at at end; it begins with the year, and continues to the next: he prepares the ground, and then he sows it; after that he plants, and then he gathers the fruits…”

– John Evelyn, Kalendarium Hortense, 1706

Mayer Gol is such a gardener. He will proudly share with you how his experience prepared the groundwork for the dream he is currently sowing in Queens. Having recently acquired the fallow fileds of a demised Supersol, Mr. Gold is taking the experience of working a field and cultivating it with the kind of attention to detail, care and seeds just right for this soil that will deliver a quality kosher supermarket. He’s learned from the best. He knows how to bring the right product, a solid value and above all, helpful, informative and courteous service to an industry and a culture that has nearly forgotten how much all that means.

The common man is not concerned about the passage of time, the man of talent is driven by it.– Arthur Schopenhauer

Seasons is a very appropriate name for Mayer Gold’s dream of a kosher supermarket, in more ways than one. Not only does Seasons tell us of his commitment to bring the freshest, highest quality, in-season products but it also it also bears witness to the relentless pursuit of his dream… a dream that can and will greatly benefit the kosher consumer in Queens.